When hostile underwater swimmers are detected near a Navy vessel, several defense options may be considered. However, many of these defense options are ill-suited to provide a suitable defense of the vessel. For instance, small arms fire will not penetrate more than two to four feet of water with any lethal force. In addition, the vessel or ship may be in water of insufficient depth to use standard depth charges. Heavy platform mounted weapons may not be capable of being directed to suppressed elevations. Also, hand thrown grenades may not be capable of being thrown far enough or accurately enough to counter the attack. Standard forty millimeter (40 mm) grenades are fused for impact detonation and may not hit hard enough in water to detonate or, if they do, will explode at the surface of the water.
What is needed, then, is a device that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.